Two days after a 22-year-old woman was allegedly gangraped and tortured by four persons in a moving car, the case has thrown up a surprising twist with Delhi Police officers providing alibi for the prime suspect in the case. The incident was reported on Monday around 11.30 pm after a passerby informed police that an injured woman was lying on a service road close to Fortis hospital in Noida. The woman was subsequently taken for a medical examination and an FIR was registered in Indirapuram under the relevant sections of the IPC. Although statements were taken from the suspects, no arrest has been made so far, police said.

The woman in her complaint said she was picked up near Vasundhara in Ghaziabad on Monday evening by suspects Akhil Tomar, Yogesh and two others. They gangraped and tortured her, before dumping her on the service road near Fortis hospital. According to police, the woman had been living with prime suspect Tomar for over a year, till about a month ago.

“The SHO of Kalyanpuri police station told our officers that at 9.30 pm on Monday — around the time the woman has alleged that she was raped by Tomar — he was in fact at the Kalyanpuri police station. Additionally, we have also found a CCTV footage that places Tomar at a petrol pump in Indirapuram around 10.30 pm, contradicting the victim’s statement that it was around that time that Tomar had raped her and dumped her near Fortis hospital,” Ghaziabad SSP Dharmendra Singh said.

Singh clarified that it was early to comment whether the rape happened or not. “At this stage, we are not saying that the rape did not happen. Neither are we saying that it happened. We are investigating all angles and are trying to solve this as soon as possible,” he said.

A police officer also said that prior to visiting Kalyanpuri police station on Monday, Tomar was present in the office of the DCP East. A senior police officer confirmed this and said Tomar had indeed visited the premises to record his statement in relation to a prior case lodged against him in March this year — that of a molestation of a minor.

In yet another twist, police officers also said the person who wrote the complaint on behalf of the woman was also a suspect in a rape case filed in May this year by the